SAINT PAUL AREA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES:

The Saint Paul Area Council of Churches, originally known as the Ramsey County Sunday School Association, was first organized in 1906. As the early name suggests, the group's original mission was to coordinate and sponsor Christian education and leadership training for children and adults in the St. Paul area. Beginning with the Leadership Training School, the Lay School of Religion, and the Vacation Church School Institutes in 1916, the Association soon offered an extensive program of classes for all ages. The Weekday Church Schools were inaugurated in 1924 to provide released time religious education to public school children and soon became the association's signature program. At its height in the 1940s, the classes enrolled close to 2,000 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders in St. Paul public schools.

While the Weekday Church Schools continued to maintain a high profile through the 1960s, by 1943 other programming and functions had expanded so greatly that the board felt the name of the organization no longer adequately reflected its purpose. A new corporation, the St. Paul Council of Churches, was formed. In addition to its role in providing Christian education opportunities, the new Council focused on interdenominational activities and the promotion of the ecumenical movement as well as a strong commitment to social services in the community. Prompted by the growth of the metropolitan area, a final name change in 1962 brought it to its current title, the St. Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC).

A separate organization, the St. Paul Lutheran Council, was formed in 1945 to play a similar role for the Lutheran churches. For a quarter of a century it worked alongside the SPACC providing parallel services, including its own weekday church school program. Ultimately, however, it merged into the larger SPACC, finding by 1971 that it was unable to garner enough support in the Lutheran community alone.

By 1988 the SPACC described itself as "a cooperative ministry uniting over 150 member congregations . . . in service and ecumenical witness" and providing a broad range of services including direct pastoral care and social services to persons or groups with special needs, assistance to congregations, and education and advocacy for social change. Programs included chaplaincies in adult and juvenile corrections centers, police chaplaincy corps, the department of Indian work, hunger relief, and support for neighborhood clusters of congregations and clergy, as well as addressing other community needs.

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Minutes, reports, correspondence, financial records, surveys, newspaper clippings, brochures, and similar materials documenting the activities of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (known from 1943-1962 as the St. Paul Council of Churches) in the areas of religious education, social services, human rights and social activism, and the ecumenical movement. The collection also includes records from its predecessor, the Ramsey County Sunday School Association, as well as a number of other related organizations.

Records of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC) consist primarily of "log books," a chronological series of volumes/files (1943-1994) containing compiled minutes from the board and general assembly meetings, as well as other committees and departments for each year. In addition to the broad outline provided by the log books, the collection includes more in-depth records for the Christian Education Department (later known as the Division of Educational Ministries) during its most active period from the mid-1920s through the 1960s. The Weekday Church Schools, inaugurated in 1924 to provide released time religious education to public school children, are particularly well documented.

The records of predecessor and related organizations include materials from the St. Paul Lutheran Council (1945-1971), the Ramsey County Sunday School Association (1926), the Council of Churches of Saint Paul (1920-1926), the Minister's Union (1903-1913) and the Twin Cities Metropolitan Church Council (1968-1994). Among these organizations, the St. Paul Lutheran Council is most extensively documented. Records from this group cover the period from its inception to its demise and merger with the SPACC in 1971 and include minutes, reports, correspondence, program flyers, and other miscellaneous departments and committees. The files from the Weekday School Department, which the Lutheran Council considered its most important program, are of particular interest and provide insights into the group's relationship with the SPACC and other church councils then in existence.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Saint Paul Area Council of Churches Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,281

Processing Information:

Processed by: Lara Friedman~Shedlov, September 1996; July 2002

Catalog ID number: 990017332390104294

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The Saint Paul Area Council of Churches (SPACC) records document the organization's administration and governance, as well as its activities in the areas of religious education, social services, human rights and social activism, and the ecumenical movement. Records consist primarily of correspondence, minutes, reports, and related papers, but also include financial records, curriculum materials, surveys, clippings, brochures, and a scrapbook, as well as an extensive collection of photographs of St. Paul area churches.

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The following related items are separately cataloged in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society

Ramsey County Sunday School Association (Saint. Paul, Minn.). Association Records, 1915-1948.

Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Department of Indian Works. Ram's Horn II.

Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Directory of Churches, Synagogues, and Clergy, Related Organizations, Educational Institutions, Chaplaincy Resources, Nursing Homes in the Saint Paul Area.

Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Directory: The Religious Community of the St. Paul Area.

Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Inter-Church News.

Saint Paul Area Council of Churches. Survey of the Need for Group Homes for Adjudicated Delinquent Girls in Ramsey County, Minnesota.

St. Paul Council of Churches. Council Bulletin.

St. Paul Council of Churches. Annual Reports.

St. Paul Lutheran Council. Lutheran Pulse.

Sparks of, by, for Young People's Council of the Ramsey County Sunday School Association.

Twin Cities Council of Churches. Educational Ministries Division. Metro News and Notes.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Ecumenical movement -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Church and social problems -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Christian union -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Christian education -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Protestant churches -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Interdenominational cooperation -- Minnesota -- Twin Cities Metropolitan Area.

Race discrimination -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul -- Religious aspects.

Lutheran Church -- Education.

Church work with youth -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Religion in the public schools -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Bradshaw, Harold C.

Dreves, Margaret, 1898-1951.

Organizations:

Council of Churches of the City of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches.

Ministers' Union (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Minnesota Council on Religion and Race.

Ramsey County Sunday School Association (Saint Paul, Minn.).

St. Paul Council of Churches.

St. Paul Lutheran Council.

Twin Cities Metropolitan Church Commission.

Places:

Saint Paul (Minn.) -- Religion.

Document Types:

Photographs.

Occupations:

Clergy.

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